Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Wednesday 28 February 2007: Heidi gets hairy and Sarah gets scary fat...


Sarah says:
My day started with someone I know telling me that I am getting fatter again. Boo Hoo, I say and oh well. I will always go up and down on the scales. C'est la vie. But you know how that goes... you get such a comment and it gets you down a bit. I actually do think I look fatter today because I am wearing a turtle-neck shirt, which no-neck heads like me should never put on. I have a sore throat so I chose to be sensible and warm even if it means looking fatter! I ate a lot in the last few days. That much I'll admit. And I'll also add that it was good stuff so I don't care if it means an extra kilo or two. Sometimes you just have to say what the hell and live it up. The best thing about the comment this morning about my getting fatter was that I could use our tried-and-true-Face-The-Day-thanks-to-ASG joke and say with a straight face: "Are you calling me fat?!" Too bad I just made that part up. When someone really calls you fat, you forget that joke fast. In retrospect, I wish I had used it to defuse the painful moment. So suffice it to say I am not only having a bad-hair day but a fat-day as well. Yet still, surprisingly, I feel fine and happy on this sunny, windy day. I got to babysit YMA this morning as Heidi had to run out for a bit. I actually only got so see YMA when Heidi got home and YMA woke up - but in the meantime I read two Elle magazines and 1 Glamour magazine while I sat there on my fat ass drinking coffee (haha) and eating bon bons (hahahaha). No wonder Heidi is obsessing about cellulite and healthy skin and I get hurt by fat comments even though so many others keep telling me I look healthy and good after months of my looking tired and grey. It's the oldest story in the book: these glam rags are horrible for and to women!!! Why do we even bother reading them! I mean here's the thing - on the one hand, it's cool and nice and all to see all these new add campaigns that use fatter models and stuff - such as Dove ads and all. But these fatter more real-life models are surrounded by the skinny ones. Even us fatties reading these mags therefore look at these fatter models (not even really fat most of the time) and we even think they look out of place and much less pretty than the other real models! Sick, sick, sick. A trap I have tried to avoid my whole life but always fall into. With all that said (and said a thousand times before here and elsewhere), I feel fine about myself today even after such a fat comment and after reading those mags today. Why I feel fine, I have no idea. But I feel fine indeed and am reflecting on all this in a sort of tongue and fat-ass cheek sort of manner that may not come over on here.
As you can see, Heidi is looking pretty dang hairy there in her chair surrounded by all her vinyls. I wish I knew what to write here on behalf of her but I don't because we didn't talk much other than about Six Feet Under (which she's busy watching now as I lent her season 1) and about breastfeeding.
And before I forget, here's what I got out of my visit to the gynaecologist last night:
  • As I am becoming 36 this year, I need to have my first mammography soon and every two years thereafter. I think this first one is actually free in Belgium as a way to get people to do it. I'm not sure about that though. Recently a study showed that Belgium has the highest rate of Breast Cancer in Europe. Again, I'm not sure I have got that right but the gist of it was that it may not be that there are more cases of breast cancer in Belgium proportionally than elsewhere but rather that there is a lot of early detection in this country they think so the numbers come out higher. I am happy to say that a big public awareness campaign is being launched here to promote breast-screening. You can read more about that campaign here. As someone very near and dear to me was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, my awareness has increased big time. I saw what she was going through first-hand and I know that the future always remains a bit scary for her. It's an awful disease and I am really glad therefore that I will have an early-detection breast-screening this month.

  • Less important yet still noteworthy - the doctor said I would still be able to get pregnant and carry a baby to full-term with my lumbar prostheses. It might not be full-term because my daughter was born prematurely due to my having half of a normal size uterus, but point is, I could do it if I want to. Well, hear me now: I don't want another child. I really don't. Sometimes I think I do but in my heart I don't. At least not with this body of mine. It has been through way too much since the first few weeks of my pregnancy about 8 years ago and up until my back operation. All the trouble started then and there and it's been a rough 8 years to tell you the truth. I will not put myself through any of that again unless perhaps it were totally accidental and moral conflicts at the moment made me decide I'd have to go through with it. I can imagine adopting and I do think of it sometimes but I never get very far in the process. All I know is that I do feel I could give another child a warm home and a lot of love and something in me feels that I should. Something in me really wants to because I feel lucky in life and feel like I have a lot and can and should share that. I don't know if selfishness stops me or fear or if it has been my pain and health up until now. I really don't know. Every bit of pain I have had in the last 8 years and every consequence of that pain has been worth it because my daughter came into my life.The pain started then so yes, I can be quite negative about pregnancy and all that. I had a horrible experience. But it was 100% worth it no doubt at all! And just knowing that makes me have a percentage of wonder (for lack of a better word) about what it would be like to have another child to love that much. Who knows, maybe now that I am pain-free I will have a clearer head to think about this all with. Who knows...and a big we'll see.

And finally, found this interesting article about a new back surgery procedure to do spinal fusions in a much less invasive way than they have been done up until now. This looks promising and interests me because at some point in my life the lumbar prostheses will be worn out and I'll have to have a fusion for sure. I bought time by choosing for the lumbar prostheses in place of the fusion. It should last till my 60s (knock on wood) - but it is too soon to tell as there is a big lack of research on it. Anyway the kind of surgery described in this article gives me further hope.

Oh yeah - and I must add thanks to an email or two that I received that indeed "MARV" from my posts a few days ago is who you think he is! So yes, it's all very innocent and my husband knows all about him! Fooled ya!

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Tuesday 28 February 2007: Heidi 's boob has grown a head and Sarah will not use even one exclamation mark in today's Face The Day entry...



Sarah says:
There will be no exclamation marks in this entry today thanks to a Face The Day viewer's comment from yesterday (a brother of mine no doubt). I get it. Exclamation marks can really annoy some people. I myself am more annoyed by semi-colons - never really mastered how to use them I'm afraid. I adore a good dash though - like that one there - marvelous. Probably use the poor buggers wrong but that's okay - I've made them mine. Greyn's ex bass player used to hate all my exclamation marks too - I took great pleasure in using even more than ever when he was involved. This link leads you to a whole discussion against the poor things. So does this link.

So check out YMA's head latching on to Heidi up there. She's getting closer and closer to getting on the bottle fully but not quite yet. YMA is amazingly adorable these days. She LOVES me, that's for sure (exclamation mark x 5). She gives me the greatest smiles. Warms my days, she does. Heidi is pretty damn cute as well. It was good to see her for a couple of hours and it is always a pleasure to see her big head here on this site. Viva Heidi and YMA. (witness: no exclamation marks at all)

That's pretty much all I have to say here today other than I'm still pain free other than the corners of each my nostrils - you know that annoying area that dries up and hurts like a mofo - well I have a double whammy of that right now. I shall overdose on cough medicine tonight - that's for sure. Last night I was up half the night with a mean dry cough. Woke up the whole house. I just picked up some stuff at the pharmacy to make sure that doesn't happen tonight.

I have to go to the gynecologist tonight for a check up and I will ask if with the lumbar protheses it is still possible to carry a child - to be pregnant. I am done with all that and don't plan on getting knocked up anytime soon but I want to know just in case I accidentally conceived or something - like Mary. Did you know I can never have an MRI again (not that I get them a lot or anything). As MRIs work with magnets, they could pull the fake disc right out of my spine. That's probably not even true but it sounds good. I wonder if I put a huge magnet on my back if there would be any effect. Does anyone out there have a huge magnet I can borrow for a scientific experiment?

Now it is high time to have a little rest as these have been some busy days. I'm not even one bit tired but everyone from the postman to the farmer to the baker to the thief keeps telling me to rest, rest, rest (x 100 exclamation marks). I guess I should listen and just chill out for a while. I think I'll watch the last episodes of the series Undeclared, which Heidi lent me (from Fej). It's good, easy viewing and keeps me lying down and resting indeed. The series Freaks and Geeks by the same guys was better because I could relate to it much more, but Undeclared is good easy fun.

Last thing - just so you know - Heidi's Internet is still down so that's part of the reason she's only here on this site every now and then. What can I report to you about her? Well, she's happily getting herself back into shape. She feels happy because she's getting her former body back and her skin is good. (she admits, by the way, that her mind is on quite shallow things such as her hair, skin, cellulite and size) She's excited to be going to a gig this week and getting out of the house without YMA hanging off her tetten. She's on speed - or at least feels like she is. I know the feeling. I too am on speed these days - metaphorically speaking of course...


And finally really, I know I already put my fave Post Secret entry of the week on here the other day, but I have to add the below one as well in honor of my appointment tonight. I just hope this one wasn't sent in to Post Secret by my particular gynecologist.

Monday 26 February 2007: Sarah almost forget to take a photo after a couple of longer than usual days... AND misses Heidi!!!!


Sarah says:
It's been a long time since I forgot to take a Face The Day daily photo! I have had a couple of rather busy days and my mind was elsewhere, which is a good thing! As we all know, I have had a little too much free time on my hands lately! A little too much TV time! A little too much time to do Face The Day each day. It's good to have had some things to do the last few days. The greatest thing is that though I have had less sleep and have had more running around, I HAVE NO PAIN!!!!!! It's amazing! It's a freaking gift I tell ya!
So last night just before midnight and just before climbing into bed, I remembered I had forgotten to take a photo - so I snapped the above one quickly just to stay on top of things. As for Heidi, dear, dear Heidi!!!! Well, she'll be back on these pages very soon I hope. I hope I'll see her today in fact as we are beginning the countdown to both returning to real life and work life. Though I look forward to having a life again soon and to having challenges again soon, I will certainly miss something about all this time off. I have especially enjoyed some very cozy times with Heidi, like buying a Monday morning market chicken and hanging out over coffee.
I'm really curious about how my pain level will be once I'm back in full-force. Imagine I can just sort of glide through my days with energy and not hold in all that pain like I have been doing for years. Man, this is a great thing!

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Sunday 25 February 2007: Sarah and Marv say a lovely goodbye as Sarah sadly heads back to real life with her missing husband and daughter...

Sarah says: This above Brugge statue expresses the same sadness that Marv and I felt saying goodbye to each other this morning after such a nice weekend together...
Sarah adds:
Back to life, back to reality and all that! Marv and I said a sad goodbye in Brugge this morning after a lovely day and night away. I had to return alone to my empty house with a still missing husband and a daughter who is grown up and is away for the whole weekend. Life will never be the same with my husband now that I have seen Marv again and got to spend such a lovely weekend away with him! Marv, if you are reading this, please know what a nice time I had with you in Brugge! Let's meet there again same time next year!



Here's my favorite Post Secret entry this weekend about the Bee Girl from the Blind Melon video! I was surprised to see this post card on the site! I used to and still sometimes do - LOVE the band Blind Melon. I used to feel for that Bee Girl whenever I'd see the No Rain video. And now to see this post card! I bet it isn't really from her because that would be pretty bold, plus the real person who played the Bee Girl is about 26 or 27 now! It's perhaps just someone making her situation stuck as the misfit bee girl a metaphor for her own life gone sadly wrong. We all know the feeling of not fitting in and of wanting to so badly and wanting to be loved so badly. But that poor little bee girl got badly exploited. I feel for you Bee Girl! I'm also jealous of you though because you got to hang around the beautiful (though troubled and sad) now dead lead-singer Shannon Hoon! Anyway - to all you Bee Girls out there, you'll find your pack of bees to dance around with somewhere for sure! We all do! More power to the Misfits!


NEWSFLASH SATURDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2007: SARAH MEETS UP WITH FACE THE DAY SPECIAL GUEST ELVIS PEETERS WHO SAYS HELLO TO HEIDI'S NICO!!!!!!!!


Sarah says:
So Marv and I headed over to De Werf in Brugge to check out Elvis Peeters in Het paard van Nietzsche.
The thing about Elvis Peeters is that Heidi's Nico is a big fan of his! Nico really loves his band Amora Di Amore and has mentioned that band and Elvis Peeters' name often. So of course I had to be a wiseguy and take the opportunity to go up to Mr. Peeters and tell him that my great buddy Heidi's boyfriend is a great big fan and that I would love to take a photo of myself with him to make Nico jealous. Of course Elvis Peeters was totally friendly and let me take a few photos, even though I told him that I could only understand a little of the music/theater show he had just done for us. So Nico my friend, I'd just like to let you know that Mr. Elvis Peeters says hello to you via this photo! The only other thing I'll say about the Elvis Peeters evening is that because I couldn't follow a lot of the play he did because the Dutch was to hard for me, I was very distracted by visual things on stage and focused on those things instead. Some of the things I noticed were the really nice tie of the long-haired musician who played a fantastic foot accordion harmonica thingy and how very well hung someone else on stage was! As Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm might point out, he had a pants' tent of sorts . Nice visuals indeed!

Saturday 24 February 2007: Sarah gets stood up by her husband so spends the night in Brugge with her childhood sweatheart Marvin...

Sarah says: First it was goodbye to my kid on Friday night! Her first weekend away with the local youth movement! It was emotional. I held back my tears and so did she. My husband - no where to be found the rat bastard!

Sarah adds: But lucky me! I was all sad because my husband was missing in action. Not a call or a text or email or anything. Just gone! So imagine how happy I was when my old childhood love just happened to be in Belgium and called me! Good old Marvin! He was always so dependable! Why I married my husband and not him, I'll never know!

Anyway - as you can see in the above photo, I was so very happy to see Marv! We met up in De Panne and ate lunch right on the sea with a coupon for a meal from the Flair Magazine. Lunch was okay. Seeing Marv was amazing! Then we headed to Brugge together and walked around the beautiful and romantic city! (see below photo). Marv looks a little shocked in the photo below because he doesn't want my husband to know about this little weekend affair!

We checked into a hotel right on one of the main walking streets of Brugge and again used a Flair discount coupon. Our room was nothing special but the location of the place was fabulous! Marv and I had such a great time! We went to dinner just outside of Brugge, again with another Flair coupon. With the three Flair coupons, we spent just over Euro 100 on everything! My husband will never even know! No credit card bills or anything! I think we are hiding our affair well! Marv is the best! Saturday was grand with him! Thanks Marv, if you are reading this! Don't worry, my husband never checks my blog! He could care less what I write here. He thinks it is stupid and useless.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Friday 23 February 2007: Sarah welcomes an old friend from her old job to Face The Day. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce my pal Corinne!

Sarah says:
It's always nice to see an old friend. Today I spent the day with a friend from my first job as an English teacher in Belgium. Please meet Corinne. She's half Italian, half French-speaking Belgian, married to a Slovakian. Her daughter and mine had fun trying to find a common language to speak to each other in. They chose the language of play and drawing!
Now my kid is off to a weekend away! Her first with the youth movement! Mom and child are excited and nervous. Tomorrow, I should have a lovely day with my husband at the sea and in Brugge, where we'll stay overnight at a hotel in the center. I can't wait!!!

Have a great weekend and report back to us what color your Aura is - see link from yesterday!

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Thursday 22 February 2007: Heidi and Sarah see their True Colors shining through. They see their True Colors and that's why they love themselves...

Sarah says:

Cyndi Lauper would be so proud to see our True Colors shining through in the above colorFULL photo. Heidi popped in for a chit-chat today and we babbled about everything and nothing as usual. It's fun to see her without Yma hanging from her arm and boobs! She keeps showing up alone without child. See what getting a kid on a bottle does for one's freedom? Well, Heidi is feeling great because Yma is taking milk from the bottle now. It makes life easier and it makes it possible for Heidi to eventually return to work. Heidi will return the third week of next month and I will return about 10 days later. Life will be back to normal even though she bore a baby and I am reborn now that my back pain is gone. Big changes indeed! How will life be for both Heidi and me come April? We wonder and ask and ask and wonder!

In other news - my back is still pain free and I still can hardly believe it! I feel fine other than this dang head cold. I even have a cold in my eyes. This morning my left eye was glued shut with slime funk. I had to pry it open the same way I did my right eye yesterday. My eyes are small and red and I look sick. My true color is pale, pale, pale! I used to be a slave to self-tanning lotion but I stopped using it the week before my back operation. I wanted to get off the stuff as it was getting hard to let my face go to its natural color and I don't like to be a slave to anything! And so far so good except I really do not like being so very pale and white. I look unhealthy and tired. At least I think I do. A little color goes a long way so now I have the idea in my head that I should start using the self-tanner again. It is hard to resist. It is one of those instant perk-me-ups! But once you start, it's hard to get off the stuff! So who knows what I'm going to do. And who cares, right? Well, I'll keep trying to convince myself that the mix of a very pale face and dark eyes and dark hair works somehow. It brings out the Goth in me I guess. It's bold! Yeah, right, I wish! So that's all that is in my head today other than feeling blue that my dad and brother have left and my house is now very empty now that they along with my mom are really gone daddy gone! No visitors to look forward to until June and July (possibly three brothers and one sister-in-law) (maybe May too if my younger brother comes again when he visits London!) So that is that. Comings and goings. To tan or not to tan?

Want to know the color of your Aura? Go to this link!

Below was my result which is a bunch of big bull really other than for the last sentence unless my Aura knows something that I don't know! It's funny though because once I went to a doctor in the whole search for what was wrong with me after my pregnancy in terms of all my pain and stuff. I was really feeling horrible and didn't feel like a woman at all. I really wondered what was wrong with me as there were and have been so many years that because of pain and whatever I have not felt physical or sexual at all really! Anyway- this was a doctor who started as a Western one but went more Eastern medicine in the end. He looked at me and heard my worries and said this: "You are a very sexual person." It actually shocked me to hear that because it was so contrary to how I was feeling and how would he know! It's still contrary. But I hope I find out it's true after all! That would be fantastic now that I am pain free. Let's hope the doctor and my Aura below are right and that my view of myself is wrong! Wouldn't that be grand or was this all way too much information! Sorry!!!!

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Wednesday 21 February 2007: Sarah says bye to her dad and brother and Carmen at airport early this morning and hello to a bottle drinking Yma!

Sarah says:
Got up at 5am this morning with a pink eye half glued shut and a swollen face. It's my sinuses and a cold. No fun. Colds never are - but it's my first in a while so I can deal with it. Have no choice actually! So I said goodbye to my dad and my brother at the airport and got to see my friend Carmen at the airport (see below photo) too because she was heading out to Russia! Great to see her as usual. Short but sweet - just like Carmen! Stopped at Ikea on the way home and then at Heidi's and saw YMA drinking from the bottle. Heidi is here now so she can tell you herself about herself and YMA!


Heidi says: Hi! hi! hi! hi!!!! Here I am again. I know I am not very loyal to you right now, but it is because I don't have the possibility to go on the Internet. So why can I write this now? Because I am at Sarah's right now and I am using her computer! Yeehaa! I am here alone, without Yma. She is asleep after having had her bottle and it is a great feeling for me to be able to go without having to take care of someone else for a couple of hours. Although I will be very happy to see her back of course! So Fej, how was your b-day?

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Tuesday 20 February 2007: Heidi and Sarah wish their Face The Day very special friend FEJ a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY today!!!

Heidi and Sarah say:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FEJ!!!!! PLEASE REFER TO EMAIL
AND SEE A REFERENCE TO YOUR PRESENT BELOW DEAR FRIEND BUDDY OF OURS!!! HAVE A
GREAT DAY PAL! HEIDI AND SARAH ARE YOUR BIGGEST FANS AND WISH YOU ALL THE VERY
BEST AND HOPE TO SEE YOU VERY SOON IN JUNE. HAVE A VERY HAPPY DAY!!!!!!!!!

Monday, February 19, 2007

Monday 19 February 2007: Sarah's brother Matt has an unusually large tongue today and Heidi and Sarah welcomed Sarah's dad to Face The Day yesterday..


Sarah says:
As my daughter put it: "today was a real Jesus Day - first a restaurant full of Jesus heads and then a church and then another church. A day for Jesus!" Indeed she's got a point. We all headed to Kemmel to Het Labyrint for lunch. What great food you kind find there as I have said before. And you can eat among millions of Jesus heads. Then we went home and ate sweet stuff and drank coffee. Then we walked to the Passionisten grotto of sorts to see the healer Isidoor's place of miracles and his church in Kortrijk. And then we popped into the local church and heard an organ concert of sorts. Jesus abounded! He was everywhere! My brother Matt showed off his very large tongue above. Then we went and saw the film Night at the Museum, which was good fun. Last night, Heidi popped in and we snapped a pic of us with my dad. Today Heidi texted that YMA DRANK 160ccs FROM THE BOTTLE FINALLY!!! GO YMA! KEEP IT UP KID!



Sunday, February 18, 2007

Sunday 18 February 2007: Sarah would like you to meet little Flo, the latest daughter of ex- Greyn's ex bass player Tom.


Sarah says:
There's Flo's mom Katrien and me an little beautiful Flo. The only Flo I have ever known is the one from that old show Alice about the waitresses in the diner. This baby Flo is much cuter than that Flo from the show. I had to cut this Flo out of another photo and paste her into this one with me and her mom because none of the three photos I took were very good - so I had to make a good one with all of us in it. It was great to meet this cutie-pie after all these months and it was nice to see her parents again and their new and lovely home. Seeing Tom brought my mind back to Greyn a bit and made me feel a little sad again but then that turned into just longing for music and a band in my life again, which is normal. Anyway - it was nice to meet this baby girl. So many baby girls around these days. I can't wait to meet my friend Erika's baby boy! It's been so long since there has been a boy. Well, that's not exactly true considering Greyn's ex guitar player and his wife had an adorable baby boy last year so there's one! But other than him, I hardly know any these days.
My husband, brother and father are out sightseeing right now. I stayed at home because it would be too much walking and standing for my slightly aching back right now. I am also coming down with a cold and a cough and just needed a day of rest again. My daughter is away at her youth movement right now and I have the house to myself. My dad brought me a bunch of magazines so you know what I'm going to do right now!!!

Here's my Post Secret pick of the week, which I only chose because it had my name on it and I found it kind of sick and funny. The poor woman who had to find this pubic hair of an ex kept by her boyfriend! That ain't right!!! Not at all. Well, I can assure you that it wasn't mine because I was married then! Thankfully! Guard your pubes women! You never know who's collecting them! And you never know who your secrets are safe with!

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Saturday 17 February 2007: Sarah's brother and dad arrived in the morning with jetlag and napped along with her husband all over the room...



Sarah says:
My dad and little brother (not so little brother - see above above photo) arrived and were tired and they napped in my living room. My dad slept on my living room floor (see above photo) - for quite a while actually. He looked like a corpse under that red blanket. So did my husband. My brother later tried to crush my daughter. All very eventful. Then my brother and my daughter had an hour long conversation about passing gas. Very interesting. Oh my - as I am writing this my daughter just asked my brother how babies are born. I had to intervene and put an end to that conversation. My poor brother started to look uncomfortable.
Now it's off to the center to have a walk, get some sunshine to work against the jet lag and have a waffle no doubt!

Friday, February 16, 2007

Friday 16 February 2007: Heidi and Sarah and Yma bundle up with each other for big fat sweater day.


Sarah says:
Today here in Belgium it's "Thick Sweater Day" also know as "Slip on Your Sweaters Day" as described via this link, which means that in all the schools and in some workplaces everyone is encouraged to turn the heat down low to conserve energy. My daughter layered herself up this morning to face the cold school day. In doing so, she had some time to think about energy and consumption and what it feels like to be cold and how in fact we can just layer up half the time rather than run to turn the heat higher. It seems that these are the days of thinking about energy use and the planet and the climate and all. Just look at today's news about a new international climate pact.
In very very local news, Heidi and the absolutely adorable and lovable and ever-growing cutie-pie Yma stopped by and both gals had their matching very thick and pretty sweaters on in honor of Thick Sweater Day. You go girls. So we three cuddled up and had a long overdue photo moment! Heidi seems good. Still having problems getting Yma to take the bottle rather than the boob. Yma doesn't want to stop breastfeeding but she has to - and eventually she surely will but it isn't going to be easy! That's pretty stressful for Heidi and everyone dishes out advice and so much of the advice is contradictory and confusing therefore.
As for my news - well, my dad and youngest brother arrive early tomorrow morning so we're looking forward to that. I am feeling good still with just a minor ache here and there. I have many lovely weekends ahead and am trying to take it easy and not do a lot whilst enjoying these stress free days. I get three massages a week from the physical therapist so that's also to be taken advantage of! The first one caused my back to hurt but it got better fast. So besides a more tired than usual upper back and knee pain, I am feeling GREAT and stress-free and HAPPY! I love all this extra time with my daughter and I really enjoy not having days filled with stress and stuffing too much into too few hours! So I will soak this up while I can and heal and be ready for the world again by April I hope!
Have a great weekend and put a thick sweater on right now instead of blasting the heat!
Oh and last but not least for all you germ-concerned people who use computers and toilets - especially the women out there but also the men who carry wallets - read this!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Thursday 15 February 2007: Sarah is disappointed in and has fallen out of love with Shannen Doherty...


Sarah says:
I have stood by and been a big fan of Shannen Doherty from her days in Little House On The Prairie through Beverly Hills 90120 and certainly through Charmed and up until her bad, made-for-TV dramas! But it's over as of tonight! My dreams of Shannen Doherty playing me in the movie of my life are over now that I have seen her show Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty on TV tonight! How very very awful is that show! I'm sorry Shannen, it's over between you and me! I still think you are very beautiful! I always have thought so. I love your scratchy voice and all. I like that you are sort of trashy. I enjoy the gossip about your fighting spirit. I think it's fun that you got fired from all those shows and stirred stuff up. But this new show of yours (old in The States but new here in Belgium) - well, it's just so so so so very bad. You still look great if that helps. I loved you...

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Wednesday 14 February 2007: Sarah says Happy Valentine's Day (to her daughter who insists!) and wishes you all LOVE LOVE LOVE everyday not just today!



Sarah says:
The day started with my crying daughter because her daddy forgot to say Happy Valentine's Day when he woke her up and it made her feel unloved! So all of a sudden Valentine's became important in our household thanks to the lovey-dovey kiddy-pie. Thankfully I had thought this could happen and I had bought her a sweety-pie choco bar and also had bought my husband 4 small choco hearts. So all was well and mommy saved the day! So I babysat my friend's kid again today and came home to my lovely daughter making me and her dad puddings with heart-shaped apple pieces that she cut out with cookie-cutters. See the above photo and witness all of that child's love! Good thing I had babysat at a flower shop because I came home with a heart-shaped plant for my little girl and pretty tulips for my husband. So my daughter was happy again!

Below you can see a photo of me and Heidi last Valentine's Day spreading the love. My hair is so much nicer longer, don't you think? Heidi looks kind of the same as the other day - even after having a baby!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Tuesday13 February 2007: Sarah is slightly troubled by some new unwelcome pain as Heidi passes the day with her pals Babs and Soph...

Sarah says:
So I went to the physio-therapist for the first time today. I have to go three times a week for about 7 weeks. I was given a massage for about 20 minutes along my spine. I felt fine going in but I don't feel so great now. My whole lower-right side hurts a bit. A new pain. I know that can happen when you start working on bones and muscles and all. In a way it's to be expected. The guy did say my right side was very tense so he massaged it out. And now I have pain! Oh well. I have to go back tomorrow again so I'll talk to him about it further and hopefully the pain will be gone by then anyway!
Other than that, a yet again uneventful day! I was happy to spend some time with a friend's baby who was ill. Poor little thing! And that's pretty much it!
By the way - as I know it is very exciting - I did finally sort most of my sundries out and have just one more bag to go through of stuff I don't know if I should throw out or keep. You know that sort of bag of stuff. It cost money so you don't want to just toss it but you have had for years and have never used it so why keep it and all. Decisions, decisions, decisions... And did I tell you I finished sorting through all my jewelery. See - already 4 things are checked off my big to-do-list!
Last but not least - Heidi's computer is down and that's why unless I happen to see her you don't hear from her here. Today she spent time with her old Wervik friends Sophie and Barbara. Maybe I'll see Heidi tomorrow! I hope so!

Monday, February 12, 2007

Monday 12 February 2007: Heidi and Sarah and Sarah and Heidi and Heidi and Sarah and Sarah and Heidi finally meet again after about a 5 day drought!!!

Sarah says:
Yippee! Heidi sms-ed me at around 10:15 am to go for a walk and we did. It was good to see Heidi again and so awake so early in the morning! We walked to the center of Kortrijk s usual and looked around and had a coffee and walked back by noon. Then Heidi's friend Katrijn happened to call just as we arrived at my house and she popped in. I had no plans for today really other than to find a physical therapist and make an appointment and to sort sundries.
Now it's around 2:30 pm and I guess that's what I'll do. After another coffee with my mother-in-law who is here too. A calm, uneventful day with not a lot on my mind. Good to see Heidi though and happy to report that things are going smoother now and Heidi is feeling less worn out and a lot better than the last few weeks.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Sunday 11 February 2007: Heidi is M.I.A. as Sarah gets theatrical on this double-movie Sunday!


Sarah says:
Today was fun! It started with a visit from an expat pal of mine for breakfast and went on to include not one but two movies with my husband! We were really only planning to see Little Miss Sunshine at the cinema but we ended up also going to see Babel. We were at the movies from 3pm till 8pm with an hour coffee and cake break in between. It was really cozy! I hope we'll make it a Sunday tradition with our daughter always away half the afternoon. That's the great thing about a kid getting older - you get to have a bit more time to yourself sometimes! Not that I need that these days. I always have time to myself being home and all! But it was great - is great - to have this little time to steal away with my husband and have our own little world! Other than a very painful knee due to nerves going crazy from my back operation no doubt, it was a really nice-paced weekend. As for movie reviews - Babel was very captivating and thought provoking to some extent and I liked the filming and storytelling style. No one actor or actress was particularly good or bad. Just everything together worked. As for Little Miss Sunshine - it had it's very funny moments but I don't see what all the hype is about. I guess maybe because I have a 7 year old daughter and know my share of oddballs that this movie didn't seem like much more than just a little ditty. A sweet little ditty but nothing more than that. I don't get the whole Oscar buzz around it. As fr Babel - I could see it getting an award or two but not for acting as there was nobody who stood out. Maybe for the directing or something but nothing more than that. With that said, I'd say go see both films! Why not! Maybe even on the same day!

Above is my favorite Post Secret from this week about despising Valentine's Day. I agree - it's a dang dumb day to be busy with. Those of us with Valentine's and those without are all under pressure to perform on that day! It's just another day. Who really cares. It's so freaking commercial - it sickens me how very commercial it has become here in Belgium in the last 10 years. If I were you - I'd just celebrate your love for this special someone every other day and have a huge fight on the 14th of February - that's what I plan to do! Tell everyone you love that you love them that day and as often as you can. Don't save it for some forced moment dictated by a calendar.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Saturday 10 February 2007: Sarah wants you to meet her little buddies RDW & MDW

Sarah says:
Those two cuties are very special to me. The girl is my "meterkind" (godchild) and the boy is my husband's "peterkind" (godchild). They are the children of my husband's oldest friend from his childhood FDW and his wife VDM. This whole family means the world to us! I had a lot of fun with these two kids this morning. They are like little sunshines!
Today is pretty much a kid-focused day. My daughter has her best friend over to play and she'll stay overnight. So my husband and I are having a lazy day with nothing much to report. I hope Heidi is doing fine with getting Yma onto the bottle. Last I heard from her was that it was going very slowly.
Here's some great world news! Scary really! Welcome to the new Cold War or as Putin puts it: "a nuclear arms race" fuelled by America's very dangerous approach... Here's the link. I guess this was to be expected...and really comes as no surprise. Just hard to hear Putin put it so clearly...

Friday, February 09, 2007

09 Friday February 2007: Sarah needs something to do with her time, that's for dang sure now that she has to stay home till April.....!!!!


Sarah says:
So the verdict is in, I can only start work the 1st of April. That means more than another month and a half home!!!!! I am so bored and so boring! So so bored! I feel good and have a lot of energy but still have to take it easy. I am stuck between these walls right now. I need to do stuff to feel good about myself and well, just to feel good in general! I still have those little projects to take care of and now plenty more time to get through them so that's good. But what to do with all this time! I have got to kick start something! I did start watching the miniseries of Battlestar Galactica yesterday and will try to finish it today as I know my brother is waiting for a review! So far so good is all I can say. It's got my attention - that's for sure. At night I have been watching the second season of the beloved series Carnivale. Heidi lent me hers and my husband and I are so enjoying it! So far, I think Carnivale is my all time favorite series -though I do love Six Feet Under too. We'll see if Battlestar Galactica rates with those two...
See! TV is my life right now! How very pathetic! The only good things about staying home are getting to see my daughter more, being more relaxed in general and getting to sleep a little later every now and then! That's it. I guess I should already be happy with that. I mean the weekend is coming up and I'm not even looking forward to it one bit! It's just any other day! Nothing special - except my husband will be home to so that's a good thing. Another thing about having all this time is I made some appointments for check-ups and stuff that I would have kept putting off. It's so much easier to get a doctor's appointment in working hours - so that's another good thing. I am searching for all the good things. It'll all be all right! One more hour and I'll take a walk to pick up my daughter from school early. She'll be so happy about that. I will too! I need some company! And I need some walking and fresh air badly!

I can totally relate to this excerpt from this article from the funny The Onion:

Unemployment, Wallace said, has enabled him to do many things he'd
never found time for while working 40 hours a week.
"For one thing, I've had
the opportunity to see some top-flight daytime programming I never knew
existed," Wallace said. "I also went out jogging several times, and I plan to go
more, now that I've discovered how great it makes me feel."
"I've really rediscovered the simpler things in life," Wallace continued. "Who knew the pleasures to be found in just taking a walk around the city? Or walking around
the mall for a few hours? Or driving down to the gas station for a sandwich?
That's what I did earlier today, and it was great, absolutely great. There's
lots of tremendous stuff to see at the gas station, if you just take the time to
notice."
Recently, Wallace took advantage of his "freed-up schedule" by
visiting his parents in Bakersfield. "Josh just showed up in the middle of
the day and surprised us," Wallace's mother Elaine said. "He kept saying
something about wanting to 'touch base and make sure the whole family's all on
the same page,' which I didn't really understand, but other than that it was a
nice visit." Added Elaine: "A full week was maybe a little long for him to
stay, just sitting up there in his old room like that. But I wasn't going to say
anything. Not when he's having such a terrible time of it."



Isn't there something beautiful about the above photo from this link? In Italy they found this dead couple from over 5000 years ago in a definite hugging position. Lovely!

And finally, for anybody out there interested in breast size in Belgium, the study says...

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Thursday 08 January 2007: It's snowing in Belgium and Sarah and Heidi are stuck inside all day!!!!!


Sarah says:

First let me report on Heidi. She sent me an sms because her computer is down and she can't upload. She said I could put her text message as her comment. Problem is, I now realize I erased her message! Sorry Heidi. Suffice it to say, Heidi is not doing very well today and had a horrid late afternoon yesterday and some difficult days coming up. She is trying to gradually stop breastfeeding Yma and it's really, really hard she says. She was advised to stop giving Yma fruit pap for a while and at a set time everyday to only give her a bottle. That time is around 5pm and last night it was just awful, Heidi said. Yma doesn't want to take the bottle at all and she screamed and cried for two hours straight. That caused Heidi to cry too. It's really hard on her. Sad. Very emotional. Hard to see Yma in this crying state and not to give her breast milk at these moments to ease the crying. Hard to give up breastfeeding. So she's struggling like many women do at this stage. It's a difficult period to go through until the baby takes to the bottled milk. The whole relationship changes too. It's a big transition. Good luck Heidi! You'll get through all this and feel on top of things soon!

I remember having to stop breastfeeding when Ayla was in the hospital for like the 4th time not doing well at all. I was pumping my milk as usual and as usual there was hardly any milk and all of a sudden there was blood coming out. There was no way I could continue doing this. I stopped right there and then. Luckily for me Ayla had been alternating from breast to bottle since day one because she was born 6 and a half weeks too early and stayed at the hospital the first month of her life. So I pumped and brought the milk in and when there I tried to breastfeed her which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. Anyway, it was a battle. It was emotional. It was actually really awful and stressful and I felt so terribly alone through all of it and I felt like a failure because I couldn't give Ayla what she needed and because she cried from hunger and pain it seemed all the time. We had to go to the doctor so much. It was so distressing. For about 9 months straight we had all sorts of struggles and problems and a baby that cried all the time. It was so exhausting and hard and lonely. None of that will help Heidi in any way because we all have to go through what we go through and it is individual and nobody's advice or kind words or help or understanding really helps. With that said, the wisdom that I think comes with having a child and that sort of responsibility - at least for me - is that you can get through anything and everything - all in its time...

Now - to change the subject... We woke up to snow though by now it has stopped! Very beautiful indeed. Too bad it never piles up or stays very long here. I miss those huge New York snow days! As a kid that was so fun - sledding down big hills and all. Getting so cold outside and then so warm inside. I'll never forget the day when I was about 15 I guess in the early days of my friendship with Face The Day google hit Erika Dioniso when she and I walked to a huge snowed on field at Nyack College. Using our feet with snow boots on we carved a huge message for a guy she or I had a crush on (can't remember anymore) in the snow there. Then we were so cold and needed to get in to town to hang out further because what else do you do on such a day other than search for friends and adventures. So we walked down the really snowy hill below Nyack Intermediate School (not sure that school is even still there). At the bottom of it at the lights a little truck passed by and these two guys were driving it. We stopped them or they stopped when they saw us (can't remember) and we hopped in the back of these strangers' truck. We were surrounded by snow and wood pieces. I think we grabbed some pieces of wood to keep as a memory. Anyway, they dropped us off in town and we probably hit the local pizza place at that point and met up with friends. I can't remember further than that so it probably means there was alcohol (40s of OE) and pot involved later at Memorial Park. Who knows? That was such a cozy day. That I know for sure! We were such street rats back then! I wish I could have such a day right now rather than being locked in my house and all adult.

Today to keep busy I will sort through all of my jewelry. I think I'll do what my paternal grandma used to do. I have some jewelery from her with little notes she wrote about the pieces included. She updated the notes every few years saying the jewelry was for me and signing her name and the date. There's this one really pretty piece that I don't think I'll wear that I'll save for my daughter. On the little paper with it, my grandma wrote that my dad had given her the piece in his freshman year of Harvard and that whenever she wore it people asked her about it. She also wrote on the paper every few years that it was for me when she died. Well, now I'll write to my daughter that it is for her when I die (please note "I" was "she" before but a FTD viewer pointed out my bad mistake and I stand corrected and even slightly ashamed!). It's blue and it's old and it's sort of borrowed so who knows, maybe my daughter can even wear it at her wedding before I am even dead!

Oh my, I feel like I might vomit. I took a liquid vitamin and I really feel like I am about to throw-up. This doesn't feel right. You'll have to excuse me well I run to the bathroom...

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Wednesday 07 February 2007: Sarah doesn't have a whole lot to tell you today and Heidi, even less...

Sarah says:
I have nothing to say. Slept till 10:30. Got my kid at school and made her lunch. Had coffee with my in-laws. Did a big food shopping and searching for castanets for my daughter with the help of my father-in-law - he lifted and carried all the heavy stuff for me thankfully. Got home and put the groceries away. Ate dinner. Put my kid to bed. Almost forgot to take above photo of myself with pink Mr. Potato lips on. Am now doing this blog. Will soon talk on phone to a friend and then will watch something with my husband on TV. Then I'll go to sleep. Really interesting, huh! That's all I have to offer I'm afraid...

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Tuesday 06 February 2007: Heidi and Sarah wish Sarah's sister-in-law J.O. a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very Happy Birthday!


Sarah says:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY J.O.!!!!! Heidi and I wish you all the best on this fine big birthday of yours! For those of you wondering who this J.O. person is - well she's my brother's wife, which means my sister-in-law. She's been a Face The Day guest before, just click here to see! I'm sure you'll join us is wishing her a fabulous year!!!
The bad news is that Heidi and I planned to celebrate J.O.'s birthday by watching the pilot of the 1st season of Battlestar Galactica that J.O. and my bro sent me and it came out black and white and grainy!!! I took my NTSC Region 1 DVD player that my mom gave me along with a transformer and all the right plugs to Heidi's and hooked it all up correctly and it worked but only in faded black and white! So we couldn't watch it!!!
The good news is that I just re-hooked it all up to my own TV and it works and comes out in color, which means I can watch it!
The sad news is that I can't watch it with Heidi because the idea was that we'd watch it at her place while Yma was sleeping!
The outcome will be that I will indeed watch it alone and I will enjoy it and Heidi and I will have to find some other fun thing to watch that will work on her TV and DVD player!
Anyway, once again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY J.O.! Have a super day!!!!!
And by the way, J.O. and NSM, you'll perhaps be interested in this article about how a ginger tea made in Belgium might be at a Starbucks near you soon!

Monday, February 05, 2007

Monday 5 Februari 2007: Love ... (Heidi's priority) and Lists of activities... (Sarah's priority) on this quiet Monday...

Heidi says: it must be love, love, love...


Sarah says:
I give you my profile because you have seen enough of my big pimple!
Cute photo Heidi!
Today it was sort of sad around my home. Too quiet. But I did get to talk on the phone to a great old friend for a while for once so that was fabulous! That felt homey and cozy!
I also finally went through all my make up and threw out all the old stuff. I have been wanting to do that for a long time. I cleaned out one of my closets and made a big pile of clothes I no longer wear to give away. That feels good! I went through a pile of magazines and ripped out pages for recipes or info I wanted to keep so I can finally throw away the magazines themselves. That is halfway done. Once done, another project will be to organize all the recipes and contact cards and all that sort of thing. Once that's complete, I'll feel accomplished because I have been wanting to do that for a while. I also want to clean out and organize all my jewelery - have been planning to do that for ages. Then there are all the digital photos to collect onto one CD-R for printing and the others for sorting into files. Then there are the rest of the regular photos to sort and put into albums. Then there are the millions of emails to sort through and the many to get rid of. Then there are those few boxes in the basement to dive into and to finally clear out. I have one huge plastic box to put anything of value and sentiment in. That's it! I am sick of multiple places for things! And last but not least, there are all of the cabinets and closets to clean out in the house. All these projects I have put off and put off may finally get done. Maybe not though. Somehow hearing myself write this does not get me very excited to get these jobs done. But it will be better and more fulfilling than sitting on my arse all the time! Another nice thing will be being able to pick my daughter up at school early. Finally I'll get to spend some un-rushed time with her!

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Sunday 04 February 2007: Sarah looks like a Gimp in this week's anti-stress mask the day her mom leaves Belgium... with book manuscript in hand...

Heidi says: Sarah's mom left. It's sad. But she'll come back!
I am also very tired. This face shows what exhaustion can do to a person... :-

Sarah says:
My friend AVDG gave me a few different masks. I'd have to say the above one felt the best so far but certainly looked the scariest - sort of like a Gimp mask if you ask me... What a strange Sunday indeed. I hate goodbyes and today started with a very early-morning one. My mom should be back in Florida by now after along day of travelling with a plane delay of three hours from New York to Miami. Our house feels strange to say the least. My mom has been here since the 7th of December. This is the longest she's ever stayed. The longest anyone has ever stayed with us. Surprisingly it all went very well and all of us really enjoyed it. My mom was so helpful before, during and after my back surgery. She helped to take the strain off for me, my husband and my daughter and my in-laws I'm sure. It was just great and cozy having her a round and all of us were sad to see her go.
With that said, there was something semi-nice about having the first sort of normal day in a while. Just my husband, our daughter and I hanging around, napping, playing a game and eating together. Our house was so silent. The day was long. My daughter kept having little crying breakdowns but she's feeling okay. In a way, I think she felt somewhat at ease just being alone with only us. It's been a while and all three of us need to find and to feel that close family bond again.
I don't particularly look forward to tomorrow. I am happy I'll be sleeping in the attic for the first time since my operation tonight and from now on. I brought all my clothes back up and my toiletries and sort of unpacked and moved back into normalcy of sorts. But at 8 tomorrow morning when my husband and kid leave for their day, I will be all alone at home for the whole month. That sounds awful to me to be honest. I know for some that would be calm and quite and relaxing and all that but not for me! I just have to find easy things to do. I have to get resourceful! The kinds of projects I enjoy usually involve sitting on the floor sorting through boxes of things and bags and closets. I can't do that right now because of my back so I have to get creative. I'll keep you posted on what I get up to. I hope it will be some good stuff!
As someone commented, my Face The Day entries are getting longer and longer! Need I explain why that is?


Above you see my mom's finished manuscript with an unfinished possible cover for the book when it's edited and published and all that. I'm going to be reading it in the next month or so I expect. I'm glad my mom finished it. Besides taking care of us, that is basically all she did - sat at the table writing her book. I hope she finds success with it...



And last but not least, to be honest, there weren't any Post Secret entries this week that really jumped out at me other than perhaps the one above. Something about it is very moving. Don't you think? It makes me sad that one bad teacher or parent or person can see a kid all wrong and send such negative messages that forever hurt and need to be overcome... I hope I am a good mother to my child. I hope I fill her with self-confidence, well-being and love. I hope she never has another person ruin her... I hope she's equipped with strong tools to get through everything.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Saturday 03 February 2007: Heidi and Sarah are angular today as Sarah strikes a pose with frequent Face The Day star, fashion designer Wout Beernaert!

Sarah says:
Heidi stopped by to say bye to my mom. I did my best to hide my nasty pimple in the photo above but alas, I didn't cut off enough of my face! We christened my big zit "Jr."


Check out frequent Face The Day guest star Wout Beernaert. He's Belgium's finest fashion designer (mode ontwerper) - at least my daughter thinks so! She's his biggest fan! We went to an exhibit of some of his designs at a place in Ronse. If you can't go see it yourself (it's there until the 7th), the above and below photo can give you a little taste as can this link!

I went for just a short time and had to sit down mostly because my legs and back got terribly tired! What I see more and more is that if I am walking and moving I feel great. When I stop and stand and sit too long, I feel tired and achy. It's good to know. It just means not doing a lot still. It's a good reminder to take it easy still. I need such reminders often!


Above you see Wout and me getting all Vogue and striking a pose with one of his bald, pirate-eyed models in a snazzy blue suit. She needed some love so we gave it to her like we meant it!


And last but not least, above you can see a drawing my kid just made for Heidi of ballerinas striking many a pose! I think all the drawings in Wout's fashion design books inspired my kid to draw this! Thanks Wout for being my kid's idol! Please feel free to teach her everything you know!